Edgefield County, SC
Total population (1850): 39,262
Enslaved population (1850): 22,725
Percent slave: 58%
Extant nineteenth-century inquests: 524
Date range: 1829-1899
Percentage of violent crimes in county sample: 39% (202/524)
The small, rural district of Edgefield, South Carolina was the Deadwood of its day, amassing a reputation for murder and mayhem unique in the nation. Forget the gangs of New York, the toughs in tailored suits strutting about Edgefield's Court House Square were up for almost anything. Take this typical exchange between Thomas Cherry and Charles Cobb.
Cherry: "You Damn puppy."
Cobb: "What are you?"
Cherry: "Do you mean to call me a Damn puppy?"
Cobb: "What are you?"
Cherry: "If you call me a Puppy, I will ag you in the face."
Cobb: "You are nothing else."
With that Cherry stabbed Cobb through the face with an umbrella.
"If we over in Edgefield insult each other, there is generally a fight or a funeral afterwards," noted Ben Tillman, one of the ten men of the district to serve the state as governor. Like Tillman, circuit judge Thomas Mackey took an almost perverse pride in the region's reputation. "I am going to hold court in Edgefield," he told a friend, "and I expect a somewhat exciting term, as the fall shooting is about to start."
Like most reputations, Edgefield's was at once deserved and exaggerated. At 39 percent, Edgefield County does have the highest proportion of violent crimes in the CSI:D sample. At 35 percent, Greenville County is not that far behind. More important, Edgefield's reputation for affairs of honor masks the mountain of dishonorable violence revealed by the morgue. Men spoiling for a fight on the street are rarely much different at home. In June 1893, Bill Gasten was sitting near his wood pile when his wife emerged from the house to draw some water from the well. Something she said set him off and he grabbed up a walking stick, hit her with it, then threw her down and began choking her. Emerging from the kitchen, her sister grabbed up the stick and told Bill to "let his wife alone." She had just started back to the kitchen when Bill cracked her head with a hoe.
Edgefield County, SC Inquests
Name | Deceased Description | Date | Inquest Location | Death Type | Death Method |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
infant child | infant child | December 9, 1891 | at a colored cemetary | Accident | |
Tom | negro boy | February 5, 1853 | at the late residence of Col Harling Quarles[?] deceased | Natural Causes | |
Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease | Natural Causes | |
John Shumport[?] | November 7, 1851 | at John Shumports[?] | Accident | ||
Richard Lundy | December 7, 1891 | at Edgefield Court House | Homicide | ||
Fed Martin | convict | September 1, 1895 | at Poor House and CH | Unknown | |
Richard J. Barton | December 28, 1866 | at Mrs Lucinda Bartons | Accident | ||
Jim Brown | Child | April 19, 1882 | on Jasper Talbert Premises | Unknown | |
infant, (male) | infant, (male) | April 29, 1857 | at Potterville | Homicide | |
Susan Medlock | April 7, 1894 | at Johnston | Homicide | ||
Duke | negro man | March 25, 1855 | near Dennis Carpenters | Accident | |
William Anderson | April 14, 1864 | at the plantation of T.[?] S Boles | Natural Causes | ||
Wade Barronton | October 8, 1860 | at Wade Barrontons Residence | Natural Causes | ||
Henry Jones | September 21, 1855 | Accident | |||
Ann Kimball | September 4, 1895 | at China grove church | Homicide | ||
Bartly | negro man | January 16, 1846 | in the woods near the plantation of Dr Wm M Bent | Unknown | |
Flora Harrison | November 4, 1890 | at Liberty Hill | Homicide | ||
Henry Turner | September 24, 1878 | at Johnstons | Homicide | ||
James Frazier | Babie | October 24, 1890 | at D. B Hollingworth | Accident | |
Charly Washington | boy | November 22, 1891 | at the house of George Washington near Bauknights ferry | Accident | |
Ben Shubrick | col | December 24, 1869 | at Negro heade Lane | Natural Causes | |
Infant Boy Child Colored | Infant Boy Child Colored | February 15, 1883 | at the residence of Charles Coleman | Unknown | |
Bob | negro | September 23, 1864 | in the District | Natural Causes | |
Charley Ryan | May 9, 1892 | at T. H. Ramsford Plantion | Homicide | ||
Pompy Robinson | November 1, 1898 | at Norris Place | Natural Causes | ||
Riller | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Lilla Olophant | female infant | August 18, 1879 | at Simpton[?] Pinns[?] | Accident | |
infant, child | infant, child | November 29, 1894 | at the plantation of J. P. Roton | Natural Causes | |
John Hester | May 13, 1846 | at Hamburg in the shop of J.J. Kenedy | Accident | ||
Robert | slave, boy | April 8, 1847 | at Edward Hampton's | Suicide | |
Joe | slave, boy | September 13, 1860 | at the residence of D. M. Glover | Homicide | |
Mary Gillam | January 1, 1891 | at Mrs Francis Wrights Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Edmond Smallwood | October 19, 1892 | at E. C. Ridgells Plantation | Natural Causes | ||
Larrence Valentine | December 28, 1893 | at Mt[?] Willing | Accident | ||
Wesley | male slave, child | October 5, 1857 | at the residence of Sophia A Tilman | Homicide | |
Hampton Reynolds | July 30, 1892 | at J.W. Reynolds Plantation | Accident | ||
Lewis | slave | May 21, 1861 | at S. H. Roggers | Suicide | |
Dick | male slave | July 13, 1859 | at Ted Scurrys residence | Accident | |
infant child | infant child | September 9, 1891 | at Wards | Natural Causes | |
Luther Harris | May 26, 1899 | at the plantation of George F Towns | Homicide | ||
Dave Gillam | August 25, 1892 | at the house of Cal Smiths | Homicide | ||
Nancy | Slave | June 19, 1847 | at the house of Mrs G. Rily's | Suicide | |
Rose | negro woman Slave | March 14, 1846 | at Michael Longs | Homicide | |
John Rufus Russell | October 10, 1884 | at John L Russell House | Accident | ||
Lizza | colered woman | October 7, 1866 | at the house of Thomas S. Miller | Natural Causes | |
George Watkins | October 10, 1866 | at George Watkins | Homicide | ||
William White | December 10, 1898 | at Savanah River | Accident | ||
Rose | three negro children | October 2, 1846 | at the house of Philip Brogden | Homicide | |
Tephius[?] Cornwall | January 14, 1845 | on one of the Public Streets of the Town of Hamburg | Natural Causes | ||
E. M. Whatley | August 31, 1893 | at E M Whatley's | Suicide |